May 17th Fast

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JMJ

"By wisdom a house is built,

 and by understanding it is established

by knowledge the rooms are filled

with all precious and pleasant riches."

(Proverbs 24:3-4)

To discover our vocation we first seek and pray for the wisdom of God to enlighten us.  With this and His grace we are led to our calling in life.  Yet, after we discover it, after we say yes, it is still not certain that we will persevere and thrive in the life chosen for us.  In the marital or religious vocation, understanding is required to "establish" our life, to secure it firmly.  In Sirach, it says "a man of understanding will not grumble." (Sir. 10:25)  A patient and humble person will desire understanding  in all situations; he will seek to comprehend rather than to complain.  Do we desire to understand life's duties and crosses or do we grumble about them instead?

To be established in our house, is to be at peace in our vocation, to accept the responsibilities that come with it.  If we wish to firmly root the house God's wisdom has built for us, we must desire to understand God's providential designs.  In His wisdom, He placed us on the path to salvation, in our understanding we can discover the means He has given us to bring this loving plan to completion.  And what are the primary means?  The family: our spouse and our children have been generously given to us to lead us to eternal beatitude.  Many may say that they are already aware of these gifts, this means of sanctity.  Unfortunately, we can think of them as only a means, only a part, and never truly come to know who they are as persons, as beautifully created souls.  We look at our vocation in a vacuum of burdensome duties, thinking of endless obligations that tie us down to earth.  Rather, we should reflect on the love that binds us to our relations, and lifts us eternally to heaven.

In order to love our spouse and children, in order to fill the rooms of our vocation "with all precious and pleasant riches", we must have knowledge of them.  In Scripture, marital relations are described by a man "knowing" his wife.  Intimacy is equated with knowledge.  We can not truly love our spouse, or our children, without knowing who they have been created to be.  If we pray and desire to know them, we will see that these rooms are filled with bountiful treasure, joys will overflow abundantly as God reveals His wondrous designs in the people He has surrounded us by.

Let us constantly pray to understand the life God has given us. And pray, too, to know our spouse, our children, our family so as to fully love them and enjoy the riches God has prepared for us.